Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria

Crown Victoria at a glance

Where the Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria came from

For 1955 Ford renewed its full-size range and named the three trim levels Mainline, Customline and Fairlane. The Fairlane replaced the Crestline as the top series, and station wagons became a separate line for the first time. The name came from Fair Lane, Henry Ford's estate in Dearborn, Michigan.

The Crown Victoria was the dressiest Fairlane. Unlike the Victoria two-door hardtop, it kept a B-pillar. Over that pillar ran a broad band of bright stainless steel, the "tiara" or "basket handle", which crowned the roof and gave the car its name. Ford had tried this styling idea on the Mercury XM-800 concept car. A panoramic windscreen completed the period look.

The wider Fairlane family, from these first full-size cars to the later mid-size muscle versions, is covered on our page about the Ford Fairlane.

The Glass Top: an acrylic roof in 1955

The most famous Crown Victoria had a transparent roof. Ford's brochures called it the "Transparent Top", dealers wrote "T/T", and owners called it the "Glass Top". The front half of the roof, ahead of the chrome band, was a blue-green tinted panel of 6 mm (quarter-inch) moulded acrylic plastic, sealed against the weather. A two-piece aluminised nylon sunshade could be zipped in from inside.

In 1955 the transparent roof cost 69.49 US dollars more than the steel top. Delivered in Los Angeles, a steel-top Crown Victoria cost 2,638.48 dollars and a glass-top car 2,707.97 dollars. Ford built 1,999 of them. For 1956 the car was renamed Crown Victoria Skyliner; it cost 2,802.99 dollars in Los Angeles, about 70 dollars more than the steel-roofed version, and only 603 were made.

The weakness was heat. On sunny days the cabin warmed up quickly, and air conditioning was a very expensive option. The 1955 system was estimated at about 400 dollars and the 1956 SelectAire at 435 dollars, so only a few hundred cars were fitted with it. After 1956 Ford replaced the idea with the Fairlane 500 Skyliner, a retractable hard-top convertible.

Crown Victoria engines and gearboxes

All Crown Victorias used Ford's overhead-valve Y-block V8. The quoted outputs are gross figures, as usual in the United States before 1972.

Three gearboxes were offered: a three-speed manual, the same with overdrive, and the three-speed Fordomatic automatic. The 1956 Skyliner with the 292 engine had 149 kW (200 hp) with the manual and 151 kW (202 hp) with the automatic. The supercharged racing development of the 312 engine is covered in our page about the Thunderbird Special Supercharged 312.

The old version of this page gave "145 to 660 hp" and "2.8 to 7.0 litres". Those figures mix in Fairlane models built up to 1970; the Crown Victoria itself only ever had the V8s in the table.

Chassis, size and 1956 changes

The chassis was conventional for its day. It had a separate frame, coil-sprung independent front suspension, a live rear axle on leaf springs and hydraulic drum brakes all round.

For 1956 Ford widened the grille into rectangles and switched to a 12-volt electrical system, with 6 volts still available. It also launched the Lifeguard safety package: seat belts, a padded dashboard, safety door locks, a deep-dish steering wheel and a breakaway mirror. The package was a pioneering idea, but buyers ordered it slowly.

By our calculation, a 1955 car with the 182 hp engine carried about 10 kg per kW of gross power (1,397 kg ÷ 136 kW). That is modest by modern standards but was brisk for a family car of the time. Our power-to-weight calculator puts it against today's cars.

Production numbers

Most cars had the steel roof. On the 1955 figure, by our count, about 6 % of buyers chose the glass top, and the glass-top output fell by 70 % from 1955 to 1956. Ford dropped the Crown Victoria without a replacement when the full-size line was redesigned for 1957.

The Crown Victoria name after 1956

The name stayed away for 23 years. In 1980 "Crown Victoria" returned as the top trim of the Ford LTD. From 1983 the LTD Crown Victoria was a separate model, sold beside the Mercury Grand Marquis, whose brand is described in our history of Mercury. In 1992 Ford launched the Crown Victoria as a separate full-size saloon, and from 1999 the police version was called the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. Production ended on 15 September 2011, with a final 2012-model car built for export to the Middle East.

Collecting a 1955–1956 Crown Victoria

The Crown Victoria is one of the most desirable mass-produced Fords of the 1950s. Glass-top cars are the most valuable. A highly optioned, restored 1956 Skyliner with factory air conditioning sold at RM Sotheby's Hershey auction in 2014 for 165,000 US dollars, about 130,000 euros at the time.

When buying, check the stainless roof band and the acrylic panel, both expensive to replace, and look for rust in the floors and around the windscreen. The Y-block V8 is simple to maintain, but ask for service records and check for a smoky exhaust or noisy valve gear. A steel-top 1955 car with the 272 V8 and Fordomatic is the easiest entry to the model. More 1950s classics are gathered in our 1950s classic cars section, and every Ford is listed on the Ford catalogue page. The car's size against a modern saloon can be checked with the size comparison tool.